Long time lurker, first time poster needs advice

S

ScYcS

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 11, 2004
Messages
3,960
Heya there first off!

I'm looking to upgrade my system.

At this point I have a

- 2.6C P4 "D1" Stepping running @ 3.25GHZ (13x250FSB) with Zalman cooler running 29C idle, 38C in games
- Asus P4P800 Deluxe Mobo
- 1024MB Memory (2x512MB Corsair Cas2 PC2700 @ 200MHZ Dual channel with 5/4 divider)
- 2x WD 80GB 8MB IDE Ultra 100 Hdd(s) (not raid)
- Radeon 9700 Pro (non o/c)
- Antec Sonata Case with Antec 380W TruePower PSU


I got funds for xmas (Boss set a spending limit of $300; you know how wifes are...) and wondered which upgrade would be the most reasonable at this point.

Would it be a new Videocard? New Board and Processor? Maybe 1GB more memory? Or maybe even a SATA HDD? Just looking for suggestions at this point. Appearantly I can't have it all, so i gotta chose from something of the above.

I almost think my Board an Proc will be fine for a while. I can maybe even get by with my Memory (since it seems stable for weeks now at that speed). How about the Videocard or the Harddrive though? Is the update to a new Videocard even worth it at this point? Doom 3 runs less than stellar, but I have no problems in HL2 and quite frankly, I'm not a big Doom3 fan anyways.

Would a Sata Hdd boost my performance significantly?

Questions questions....

Thanks in advance

Dennis
 
yea get urself a 74gb raptor, that will increase the speeds of everything overall :) Then get an audigy 2 ZS for gaming
 
I agree. Everything else looks great. Don't upgrade the video card until you feel the need, but you could grab a a decent 6600/6800 level card with $300. What kind of monitor do you own? I found that going from a Sony Trinitron 17" to a ViewSonic 19" was well worth the few hundred it cost.
 
I've got a Trinitron 19" CRT which is simply great. No need to upgrade anything in that department. The Audigy for gaming....I have my doubts. I use my simply onboard sound system and it seems more than sufficient. Probably due to the fact that my speakers are not high end and my headset is a UT2004 Freebie.

The Raptors....it's certainly a good idea. But aren't there other good SATA drives out there for less money? The raptors seem a little overpriced....I was thinking maybe 2 Seagate Barracuda II In raid 0? They're half as much as the raptors. Are the Raptors really THAT good?
 
To be honest, i don't know. I never was an audiophile. I was around when the CD replaced LPs and didn't think it was a big step towards better sound. I had a SB Live! card and couldn't tell the difference between it and the AC97 sound on my old mobo. I had a Santa Cruz card and was angry i spent so much money (back then) on sound. I had Altec Lensing speakers for $90 and sold them after 3 weeks since i didn't like all the bass coming out from the subwoofer.

I guess i simply am not much into sound.....
 
You didn't mention if you had a CD burner or not, but I'm kinda guessing you do.

How about a nice dual layer DVD burner? You could get that, a bunch of media, and still have quite a bit left over to take the boss out for a really nice dinner that will earn you brownie points for future upgrades! :p
 
Yah, forgot to mention those....I've got a nice NEC 3500A and a 52x CD burner as well. No needs there. Thank thought, was a good idea (using my NEC more than most of the components in my comp). :)
 
I'm going out on a limb, here....but, if that were mine, I'd be looking at a new video card.

I've got systems around here that are running 9700 level hardware in them, and I think the improvement you'd see in something like an AGP version of something with a 6600GT on it would be pretty amazing. I've been looking at a couple for oldest son's computer, which is very much like yours. The egg has several flavors, and BFG has one, too. There's no nice way to say it; 6600GT's seem to pretty much eat 9700 / 9800's for lunch......

Raptor's are awesome drives, but I'm betting the "bang for the buck" in overall system performance would be a video card improvement.

My $00.02 - B.B.S.

PS:....welcome to the forums, ex-lurker....:D
 
BlindedByScience, agreed as well.

I guess what it will boil down to is either a new Videocard (6800 vanilla or 6600GT) or a SATA Hdd with lots of juice behind it.

One thing to keep in mind is also that i could use my "old" 9700 pro in my sons computer and replace his GF4200 with it if i get a new Vidcard. Trading in the 4200Ti 128MB to BFG will get me a $40 rebate.....something to think about. A new hdd will do nothing for his rig.

Not an easy decision.

PS: thanks for the welcome! :)
 
ScYcS said:
One thing to keep in mind is also that i could use my "old" 9700 pro in my sons computer and replace his GF4200 with it if i get a new Vidcard. Trading in the 4200Ti 128MB to BFG will get me a $40 rebate.....something to think about.
Click to expand...
...done thinking....:D Good choice - go for it.

Regards - B.B.S.
 
ScYcS said:
BlindedByScience, agreed as well.

I guess what it will boil down to is either a new Videocard (6800 vanilla or 6600GT) or a SATA Hdd with lots of juice behind it.

One thing to keep in mind is also that i could use my "old" 9700 pro in my sons computer and replace his GF4200 with it if i get a new Vidcard. Trading in the 4200Ti 128MB to BFG will get me a $40 rebate.....something to think about. A new hdd will do nothing for his rig.

Not an easy decision.

PS: thanks for the welcome! :)
Click to expand...

$40 isn't much for a 4200 - it's worth over $60-$70..
 
Yeah, but finding a buyer for a Ti4200 128MB card is not that easy nowadays. There are usually 2 kinds of ppl around:

- The ones who have no idea about video cards, who go out and buy a FX5200 and think it's great simply because it has lots of memory. These people don't understand that my Ti4200 smokes the FX5200 in most apps.

and

- Enthusiasts that already have something better than the Ti4200.
 
Geez man, to be honest I don't see anything in that setup you really have to worry about upgrading. I would rather score some brownie points with the wife and buy her something nice, like a three hundred dollar gift card for her favorite clothing store or something.

If you absolutely want to spend it on something computer-related, why not get a laptop? You could get a p3-500 or something for about that price. You'd probably enjoy it more than you know.
 
Well, here's the deal:

I already bought my wife something "really" nice. I originally had a $500 budget and used $200 of it for an additional present for her, so i think I'll score some points anyways ;) That is, if she likes it. Let's not talk about last xmas when i thought i bought THE best gift and 2 days before the 25th she saw something like it in the jewelry store and told me flat out how much she would hate THAT. But that's another story.

Laptops i can get my hands on for free from work. Just need to ask for one!!! (I love my job; internet surfing and waiting for something bad to happen in the network/with the servers....can't get better than that!).
 
ScYcS said:
The Raptors....it's certainly a good idea. But aren't there other good SATA drives out there for less money? The raptors seem a little overpriced....I was thinking maybe 2 Seagate Barracuda II In raid 0? They're half as much as the raptors. Are the Raptors really THAT good?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily overpriced, they just cost more. 10k rpm is amazing, especially in a raid-0 array, you're looking at a huge improvement over 7200rpm ide drives. Plus they come with a 5 year warranty...you'll be hard pressed to find a 5 year warranty on most computer parts these days...

just thought i would throw that in there...the raptors really are THAT good...:cool:
 
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